Did you caucus with Dino?

Calling all Sammamish-area Republicans: Did your ex-state senator and current gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi participate in your fantastically run caucuses last weekend? Did he even bother? (Since Goldy mentions that no caucus actually took place, maybe it doesn’t matter, but it’s worth asking.)

So I ask you, did you caucus with Dino Rossi?

On a slightly different note: I ran my precinct’s caucus on Saturday, and I thought I did a not-so-great job… That is, until I started reading all about the totally craptastic job you GOP guys did on Saturday. From one ill-prepared party activist to another, I salute you.

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On a slightly different note: I ran my precinct’s caucus on Saturday, and I thought I did a not-so-great job… That is, until I started reading all about the totally craptastic job you GOP guys did on Saturday. From one ill-prepared party activist to another, I salute you.

It doesn’t look likely that Governor Christine Gregoire was present at her own precinct caucus on Saturday, February 9, 2008. (According to Stefan’s database on uSP, Governor Gregoire, her husband, their two daughters, and two other individuals are registered at their home address — the long-time residence that the Gregoires have owned for many years, not the Governor’s Mansion — which is in Precinct 88 in Thurston County.)

Governor Gregoire has posted a diary on DailyKos about her own experiences on caucus Saturday:

Governor Gregoire describes her “travels to two different caucus sites”. First, Gregoire “arrived at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, a town in Snohomish County, north of Seattle”. Next, Gregoire was in “Seattle, at the 36th LD in Blaine School”. Gregoire was truly impressed with the overwhelming turnout of Democratic voters at both caucus locations.

However, Gregoire doesn’t say anything at all about the caucus events at her own precinct in Thurston County. Presumably, it would have been very difficult to actually attend her own caucus, if she had just visited two other caucus sites, one in Snohomish County and the other in King County. It would be over 60 miles drive from Seattle to Olympia! And if Gregoire attended her own precinct caucus, she would have presumably talked about it!

Now, of course, it is still possible that Gregoire signed up for her own caucus. While the Democratic rules say the caucus should begin at 1:00 p.m., there is absolutely nothing to prohibit a voter from signing in before 1:00 p.m. — or even long before 1:00 p.m. So long as a voter signs in (in fact, signs in anytime before 2:00 p.m., as the final delegate allocation cannot be made before 2:00 p.m.), their presidential preference will county in the delegate allocation. The voter does not have to further attend the caucus, beyond simply signing in. Of course, the voter cannot change candidate preference if they leave, and cannot participate in the election of delegates (and probably won’t be elected delegate either, although it is possible for them to still be nominated by someone else).

But did she attend her OWN caucus? I would assume that the CNN footage was shot either at the Kamiak High School in Mulkiteo or the Blaine School in Seattle. Since Gregoire is registered in Olympia, she could not have signed in to have her presidential preference considered at any other precinct, other than the one in which she is registered to vote.

BTW, I don’t see that Dwight as a super delgate and an organizer, should have done anything other than signed in UNC; Further, Gregiore being a super delegate as well, doesn’t really need to show up for caucus to still be considered fulfilling her civic duty.

Gregoire is a superdelegate, not royalty. She is still eligible to participate in the caucus process, and she should have done so. If we used the primary, instead of the caucus, would this excuse her from voting in the primary?

I make the reference to royalty, because certain members of the British royal family (including the reigning monarch and heir apparent) are not allowed to vote for the House of Commons. Nor can voting members of the House of Lords voted for the House of Commons.

All said, I could understand Gregoire perhaps not participating if she had not decided on a presidential candidate. But she urged all of us to go out and caucus for Obama — and probably close to 200,000 of us did so (just for Obama alone). So if it is true that Gregoire did not actually participate in her precinct caucus, then I would say that just isn’t a very good example to set.

@12: I know you boys might not understand, but yes, a gal’s shoulders can get very tired from holding up that extra weight all day. I know someone who got a reduction done for this very reason. And because the reason was to reduce the muscle strain in her shoulders, it was deemed ‘medically necessary’ for purposes of medical insurance, so it wasn’t even considered mere plastic surgery. For insurance to pay, they had to take off a minimum of poundage from each side.

Just imagine it, dudes, if your package weighed 10 pounds! Don’t you think it would be hard to get around?

You bring up Dolly Parton? I guess I will have to connect her to this thread then. One of her ancestors and one of my ancestors were hanged on the same day by the British. Parton’s 6th-great-grandfather, Captain Robert Messer, and my 6th-great-grandfather, Captain Benjamin Merrill, were hanged on June 19, 1771 by the British for leading a rebellion against the Tory (conservative) royal Governor of North Carolina, Robert Tryon. 4 others were hanged along with them that same day at Hillsborough, North Carolina, basically people who had commanded military units in the rebellion (which was called the War of the Regulation).

There had been a battle at Alamance, North Carolina on May 16, 1771, which Governor Tryon had won against the Regulators (the name for the rebels). Captain Merrill’s unit did not actually participate in the battle — his unit was a day’s march away, after having defeated one of Governor Tryon’s other units. Nevertheless, Captain Merrill was hanged anyway. Had Captain Merrill’s unit been there to participate in the battle, the outcome might very well have been different.

Well, sorry for hijacking the thread. When I saw the headline, I just had to share it.

Actually, I’m a big fan of Dolly Parton. Not so much for the singing, or her appearance, but just her great attitude. She comes without any pretense of any sort, and she just disarms her critics with her ability to laugh at herself. I thought the quote she gave in her statement was such a great example of that.

RP @13: Oh come on Richard, get real. A super delegate is already well represented, participating in the caucus to select the other delegates isn’t expected or warranted. Also, it is realistic to suppose that participation by someone so prominant would be disruptive to the process (and another hit against caucus in general versus a blind ballot).

The Governor showed up at two caucus locations on Saturday anyway — one in Mulkilteo and one in Seattle. Was it disruptive for the Governor to show up at two different locations? How would it have been any more disruptive than this for the Governor to show up at her own location, pretty close to where she lives, and stay for the entire process?

Apparently, the 5th LD is one of the few places in the entire state where Republicans showed up in any significant numbers for the caucuses on Saturday. I just talked to an insider from the 5th LD GOP, and apparently over 2,300 people attended Republican caucuses in the 5th LD on Saturday.

This is more than the 2,100 who attended the GOP caucuses in all of Pierce County — which basically has six LD’s and many times the voters obviously compared with King County’s 5th LD. Clark County had 1,395 people attend — and Clark County is roughly three LD’s in size.

So the topic of this thread may backfire, especially if Dino Rossi actually attended his own precinct caucus and Christine Gregoire did not.

As an old retired person it is refreshing to experience the world of BLOG for the first time. Yes, I attended the caucus and even became a delegate. Although I have avoided the political scene for many years, you can thank the Gregoire administration for my return to the ranks as an active republican advocate for change. Like Don Quixote, I many times fight windmills of injustice.

My return stems from the failure of the Office of the Governor and the Department of Financial Institutions to protect me from unethical acts of a stock broker despite their legal responsibility to do so. This was done despite clear and undeniable evidence showing the actions were illegal as described by law and enforceable by the DFI.

What good are the laws if the administration, Republican or Democrat, does not enforce them? What good are the laws if the administration finds it politically expedient to ignore them? What good are the laws if they do not protect the rights of the individual citizen?

My question to you, fellow BLOGers (whether democrat or republican), is where do you stand. Should we as citizens be of value only when our vote is needed or should we as citizens be protected by sound laws and an administration that enforces them?

Also my name is Elmer Wagner and you can write me at namonsa@yahoo.com. (The truth will set you free!)

Pope, you are calling yourself a D these days but I see that you still have a hard one for the Gov. Get over it. As a super delegate, it would be double dipping to also caucus. Dino on the other hand, who had Mitt Romney write the forward to his book of fables has NO GOOD REASON to not caucus except fear of being exposed as a Huckster supporter when in the end he will have to suck it up in order to stand with the more moderate McCain.

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